If you have managed to see the collection of historical signs at the Historical Commission, you may have noticed one for the Shepard Pharmacy. Though it is no longer in business, the building remains at 96 Washington St., where it even looks similar to how it appeared as the Shepard Pharmacy.
The records from the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS) state that the building was constructed in or before 1881. This is corroborated by the presence of Shepard Pharmacy ads in the sixth edition of Samuel Roads Jr.’s “A Guide to Marblehead,” copyrighted in 1881.
The ad reads, “Shepard’s Pharmacy. 96 Washington St. Opp(osite) the Old Town House. A Complete Line of Toilet Requirements. Ice Cold Soda. Agency for Huyler’s Candles. Physician’s Prescriptions Carefully Compounded.”
Needless to say, they clearly had it all. An article from the website Marblehead Magazine states that the “Ice Cold Soda” advertised was widely regarded as the best soda fountain in town. The MACRIS record states that at one time, there were “beautiful cabinets, marble-topped counters and an elegant pressed tin ceiling” inside.
One of the owners of the pharmacy, and the one who placed the advertisement, was W. H. Shepard. This W. H. was William Hooper. The MACRIS information lists another owner as W. R. Arrington.
After Shepard sold the building around the 1960s, according to MACRIS, it transformed into an antiques store called Evie’s Corner that was owned by Evelyn Goldman. In October 1993, Eve Magnet of Evie’s Corner gifted the Historical Commission the Shepard Pharmacy sign.
The soda fountains are gone and so are the antiques, but the large windows remain, a little peek into the past.